Newbie in Ohio - Looking for Guidance on Arcade Machine Troubles - Raspberry Pi Issues & PC Conversion Help

[ThePuma312]

Hi everyone,

I’m new to this forum and honestly new to this entire world of arcade machine setups, so I’m really hoping for some guidance from those who have been down this road before.

Back in December, I purchased an arcade machine from The Arcade Guys as a Christmas gift for my kid. I was excited to share with him the magic of these classic games from my childhood. It was a beautiful setup:

• New 43” TCL smart TV (Netflix, Roku, Sling, etc.)
• New trackball, light guns, and wrap
• New buttons and 4-player SANWA joysticks
• Upgraded HD speakers with subwoofer
• New amp (could also act as a jukebox)
• Raspberry Pi 4 with a 128GB SD card
• LED lights behind the marquee
• Lightguns (which never worked) and trackball

Unfortunately, the fun only lasted for about three weeks before the machine stopped working. I worked with their tech support, who had me send the Raspberry Pi back to be rebuilt. They guided me through the setup again, and it worked for a couple of hours before it started rebooting and wouldn’t hold power. After another call, they suggested plugging the machine directly into the wall outlet, but that didn’t solve the problem either.

At this point, it’s been months, and I’m feeling pretty stuck—and my wife isn’t thrilled about the investment turning into six hours of game time and no real solution. I came across this forum and specifically found the thread “Let’s Connect a PC to an Arcade Cab, Shall we??!!” by RealMFnG, which sparked an idea. A friend of mine suggested that maybe I’d be better off converting the system to use a gaming PC, which could be easier for me to manage.

So now, I’m here and reaching out to ask for advice. We have an older gaming PC that I could potentially repurpose for the setup, but I have no idea where to begin. If this PC route is the best option, I’d love any pointers on how to get started and whether it’s worth pursuing.

I’m definitely in over my head but eager to learn. I just want to be able to enjoy the arcade experience with my kid. Any advice or guidance you can offer would be hugely appreciated!

Thanks in advance!

 

[Zepherino]

Welcome!

While there are some posts here and there regarding emulation, the vast majority of discussion in Arcade Projects is focused on original hardware (both in terms of arcade boards and arcade cabinets), so it may be difficult to get a lot of help here in comparison to other forums, Discord channels, Reddit pages, etc. Emulation comes into play a bit more often when the arcade game in question is rare, expensive, or both (stuff like CAVE shmups or other multi thousand dollar boards). However, even in that instance you'll find that people are most likely going to install whatever MAME device they choose into an actual arcade cabinet via JAMMA or JVS, instead of using a MAME focused cabinet, just like you'll find in the thread that you linked to.

Best of luck with your machine. Arcade gaming is definitely a long journey of learning, and the rabbit hole of this hobby is very, VERY deep depending on how far you want to take it.

 

[garou81]

The system constantly rebooting sounds like a hardware issue. Does the cabinet have a dedicated power supply or just some kind of power strip inside that plugs into the wall? If i had to guess I'd say the ac adapter for the pi is bad or the pi itself. I would replace those components until i found the fault

I would systematically rule out faulty components.
1. new sd card with a different pi image. recalbox, retropie image, batocera any one of those
2. new ac adapter for the pi if it uses one( when the
3. A new pi not from them

All of these fixes should be relatively cheap. If your feeling ambitious get that old pc out it should work nicely and is probably more powerful than the pi anyway. Search youtube for retrobat teknoparrot launchbox or hyperspin. These should all be relatively easy to install. Its all pretty straight forward.